With a new year comes new opportunities for new things, places and people. You may have already begun to take new charge of your life by the 2016 resolutions you made, such as joining a new spa or health program, quitting smoking, going back to school or entering into a healthier pattern of eating. Among your new resolutions for this year, did you happen to include any cosmetic changes, like trying out some new forms of skin care, or what about your hair? Is your hair in the best shape it could be? It’s not too late to add a few more improvements to your 2016 list, especially when they can pay off in such big ways!

Easy Does It
If you’re like too many women, you’ve been faithfully washing your hair every day, at least once–and if you’re working out, maybe even twice a day. Today’s shampoos do a highly effective job of cleansing your hair by removing product buildup, dirt and excess oils, reducing the frequency with which successive shampooing is needed. Daily shampooing is not only not necessary, but it does more harm than good to your hair. Depending on the different formulations of shampoos, washing your hair with them on a daily basis will keep your hair in a stripped state, corresponding to the severity of harshness of each shampoo. Your hair needs time between shampoos to benefit from your body’s natural production of oils that give your hair shine and resilience.

Keep it Brushed
A lot of times it’s easier to keep a certain hairstyle, from braids to updos and even unstyled, but without sustaining an appropriate level of detangled hair, by the time you’re ready to brush, you’ll wind up pulling out a good deal more hair, just from the detangling process alone. This especially becomes essential for people with curly or over-processed hair, and if you create any hairstyles that involve teasing, the longer you wait to comb out your hair to remove the tease, the more difficult (and hair-losing) a comb-out will be. Resist the urge to wait and watch how your brush fills up with hair a lot less often.

Take Charge of Your Color Maintenance
If you normally color your hair, make this year the year where you get on top of the situation, by acknowledging the typical time span between your touch-ups, and anticipate them for a change. Stop doing the thing where you suddenly catch your reflection in the mirror and realize you need a root re-do–LAST week. And then, you call your colorist, only to find that she’s booked solid for the next three weeks. This does not need to happen. Stop being the victim here, and take command of your color appointments. On whatever calendar device you use, go ahead and enter in the times when you will need to call to schedule an appointment–beforehand–with plenty of advance time to avoid having to wait. This is what other people have been doing, all along.

Try Something New
Let 2016 become the year that you use to expand your hairstyle repertoire, by taking advantage of all the rich hairstyles that come with excellent online tutorials, some on Youtube, and some written out, with pictures. Learn a new braiding technique every week or two and make sure to use it for your hairstyle long enough to master it. Once you have a particular one under your belt, learn another one. Your friends and coworkers will begin eagerly anticipating your next hairstyle every day.